Cigar head reinforcement



DeC- 11, 1952 T. KAUFMANN 3,067,753

CIGAR HEAD REINFORCEMENT Filed July 17. 1958 IM """i DIRECTION OF ROLLING y .JU A

l/ INVENTOR. THEODORE KAUFMANN AGENT United States Patent O This invention relates to a cigar having an improved reinforced head and the method of manufacturing the.

same.

As is well known in the art, cigars manufactured according to modern techniques are composed of short or long cut ller tobacco, rolled in an inner binder to form a bunch which in turn is rolled in an external Wrapper to form the finished cigar. While both the binder and wrapper have long been cut directly from leaf tobacco, the newer practice is to use as the binder tobacco in sheet form prepared from nely divided tobacco and an adhesive or film-forming agent.

A long standing problem of cigar manufacturers is the frequent disintegration of the head of the cigar while it is being smoked due to the damage caused to the wrapper and binder as a result of excessive chewing and other manipulation of the cigar head in the smokers mouth. The taste, feel and sight of a disintegrated or partially disintegrated head of a cigar lead to an unfavorable attitude by many people toward cigar smoking. Thus, this problem reduces cigar sales.

` Various proposals have been made for minimizing or eliminating the problem of head disintegration in the smoking of cigars. For example, one proposal involves the use of a mouthpiece composed of a foreign material at the head of the cigar either exposed or covered by the wrapper. There are several disadvantages connected with this scheme. -From the smokers point of view, the foreign material of the mouthpiece which usually extends through most of the cross-section of the cigar acts to absorb many of the aromatic components of the cigar smoke thereby detracting from the smoking quality of the cigar. In addition, the cigar tends to break between the inner border of the mouthpiece and the rest of the cigar While it is being smoked due to the tension exerted against the Wrapper and binder as the cigar is being manipulated in the smokers mouth. A disadvantage in the use of a mouthpiece from the manufacturers point of view is connected with the fact that the cigar bunch is prepared -by helically rolling a binder around a certain amount of filler tobacco and the existing complex machines for making cigars cannot 'be operated to include a mouthpiece within the bunch. It would also be dilicult to change the current mass production technique of rolling a wrapper around the bunch to come out with a cigar in which the bunch and mouthpiece are separately enclosed within the wrapper.

Another common proposal for preventing the disintegration of the head of a cigar while it is being smoked is to wrap or coat the outside of the cigar head with protective material, eg., cellulose nitrate or acetate, regenerated cellulose, paper, cork, etc. While such an external shield may be effective in preventing disintegration of the cigar head in a smokers mouth, the feel and taste (including lack of taste) of a material other than tobacco are offensive to many cigar smokers. Moreover, the application of a protective material to the head of a cigar is a difficult thing to accomplish and cannot be readily adapted to the present commercial technique of mass production of cigars. For example, in ordinary cigar-making machines the wrapper is rolled on the bunch from above by means of a wrapper transfer arm which has a complicated motion and accomplishes the step of rolling the broad portion of the wrapper on the body of the bunch by means of one type of helix and the ag portion of the wrapper on the head of the bunch with a tighter helix, ire., a helix having a smaller and decreasing pitch. Since the external protective material cannot be applied with the wrapper in the existing cigar-making machines, it would be necessary to apply the protective material by a separate procedure which would obviously increase the cost of cigar manufacture.

It is an object of this invention to provide a simple and eifective method of reinforcing the head of a cigar. A further object is to provide a cigar having a reinforced head which is filled with filler tobacco and has a tobacco wrapper on its outside as in conventional cigars, so that no aromatic components of the smoke are filtered out and the mouth of the smoker comes in contact with tobacco rather than any foreign material.

These objects are achieved with commonly available cigar-making machines by rolling the iiller tobacco in a binder laid on the surface of a rolling apron of such a machine together with an insert strip of a reinforcing sheet, most of one face of the strip being in contact with a face of the binder. While the binder is placed on the rolling apron in the usual position so that it may be helically rolled around the filler tobacco to form the bunch, the insert strip, which in most cases is rectangular, is placed below the binder on the rolling apron so that it lies across the head end of the binder with the larger dimension of the strip extending substantially parallel to the direction of rolling. The larger dimension of the insert strip is at least 0.5 inch longer than the circumference of the bunch so that the ends of the strip overlap one another at least 0.5 inch. When the filler tobacco is rolled in the binder, the insert strip is simultaneously wound spirally (not helically) at the head end of the resultant bunch. Since the reinforcing strip is longer than the circumference of the bunch and this strip is rolled around theiller tobacco while the major portion of one face of the strip is in contact with a face of the binder, at least a minor portion of the other face of the strip is in contact with the other face of the binder. In other words, one end of the insert strip is interleaved with the rolled up binder and, therefore, the strip is held in place in the bunch by the binder.

The insert strip of the finished cigar will be inside the wrapper so that the cigar has the usual appearance and only tobacco comes into contact with a smokers mouth. In addition, as is obvious from the construction of a cigar made according to this invention, -th-e path of the smoke from the lighted tuck end, through the cigar to the smokers mouth,is substantially the same as in a conventional cigar so that while the head of the cigar is strengthened considerably against disintegration, there is still no filtering out of any of the aromatic components of the smoke.

In view of the fact that the insert strip is wound around the filler tobacco integrally with the binder in preparing the bunch which is then further enclosed in the wrapper, it is obvious that the reinforced head of a cigar manufactured according to this invention is strong and secure. When the insert strip is placed on the rolling apron under lthe binder, it is advisable to use a dab of innocuous adhesive on the face of the strip which is to be contiguous with the binder and at the end of the strip which will be the inner end of the spiralled strip in the bunch. This is done not for the purpose of keeping the insert strip in place in the finished cigar or even in the bunch but to ensure that the end of the strip which is rolled up rst will follow the binder during the rolling operation. In addition, when the insert strip is below the binder on the rolling apron, la dab of paste is also 'applied to the upper face and at the opposite end of the strip to hold down the outer end of the spiralled strip in the bunch.

In addition to the inherent advantages in the finished cigar, the reinforcement of a cigar head according to this invention may be carried out much more easily than other methods of reinforcement. This can be best appreciated when the conventional means of mass producing cigars is considered. in preparing the bunch, the binder is placed horizontally on the rolling apron and is held flush against the apron by a partial vacuum applied through small openings or perforations in the apron from a chamber beneath it. The binder is cut in a shape adapted to be formed into a tubular element by a relatively sirnple rolling action executed by the rolling apron. To obtain the advantages of this invention, it is merely necessary that the insert strip be placed on the rolling apron below the binder with its larger dimension substantially parallel to the direction of roll and near the head end of the binder so that when the filler tobacco is dispensed and the bunch rolled the insert strip will be integrally rolled with the binder. 'Ihis is easily carried out in the mass production of cigars by means of an applicator mechanism which cuts an insert strip of the desired size from a roll of the reinforcing sheet and places it in the desired position on the rolling apron relative to the binder before the bunch is rolled. This is considerably simpler than manufacturing cigars with separate mouthpieces which involves an entirely distinct operation, or applying reinforcing strip either with or after the rolling of the wrapper. It would be diicult to apply a reinforcing strip with the wrapper in view of the fact that the wrapper is rolled on the bunch from above by means of a complicated motion of the wrapper transfer arm which provides for the broad part of the wrapper to be wound around the bunch in one type of helix and the ag portion of the wrapper to be wound around the head of the bunch with a tighter helix, i.e., one having a smaller and even diminishing pitch.

The insert strip may be cut from any of various types of reinforcing sheets suitable for the desired purpose, e.g., tobacco sheets, paper, cork, regenerated cellulose, plastic films, etc. While the insert strip is lof a width that it rarely covers more than 1.5 inches of cigar length at its head, `smokers occasionally smoke cigars down to very short stumps with the result that the burning zone of the cigar reaches the insert strip. For this reason, it is preferred to use a strip of a strong tobacco sheet which on burning will not yield an obnoxious smoke odor and taste. Such a tobacco sheet may be made in accordance with the teachings of U.S. Patent 2,797,689, granted Iuly 2, 1957 to W. G. Frankenburg.

The reinforced head of this invention may be applied to any type of cigar which has the three basic parts type of cigar which has the three basic parts of filler, binder and wrapper. However, it is particularly advantageous when the binder is cut from a tobacco sheet prepared from finely divided tobacco and a water-soluble adhesive, e.g., methyl cellulose as disclosed in U.S. Patent 2,592,553, granted April 15, 1952 to W. G. Frankenburg and P. W. Garbo.

The selection of the reinforcing sheet is based on such factors as thickness, flexibility and strength both when dry and when moistened by chewing in the smokers mouth. Suitable reinforcing sheets are generally not more than 0.005 inch, preferably not more than 0.003 inch, in thickness; the flexibility of such sheets should be sufficient to permit the insert strip to be readily spiralled 4at the head end of the bunch without causing objectionable bulging or distortion of that end of the bunch. Also, the insert strip should have enough flexibility that a smoker who `chews the head of a cigar while smoking will not notice any unusual hardness in the reinforced head.

To further dene the invention, reference will now be made to:

FIGURE 1 which shows the positions of the binder and insert strip on the rolling apron with the insert strip placed under the binder, and

FIGURE 2 which illustrates, in a side view partly in section, -a cigar constructed according to the invention, and.

FIGURE 3 -is a sectional View taken lalong the line 3 3 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 1 shows the portion of rolling apron 10 of a cigar-making machine which has a multiplicity of perforations 11 for holding down in a smooth condition binder 12 laid thereon. The insert strip 13 is deposited on apron 10 before binder 12. Strip 13 may be cut from a roll of a reinforcing sheet and placed on apron 10 by a dispensing mechanism o-f the type shown in pending U.S. application Serial No. 303,210, while binder 121 may be cut from a roll of a tobacco sheet and laid on apron 10 over strip 13 by a dispensing mechanism of the type shown in Belgian Patent 547,564. The direction of rolling followed by apron 10 in executing the rolling of the cigar bunch is indicated by arrow 14. It will be noted that the longer dimension of strip 13 is essentially parallel to the direction of rolling. After a charge of filler tobacco has been rolled up in binder 12 to form the bunch, the bunch goes to a crirnper which shapes the ends of the bunch and cuts off the marginal portions of binder 12 at the bunch ends. Dotted lines 15 and 16 indicate the lines along which the marginal portions of binder 12 are cut oi yat the crimper. It will be noted that strip 13 is generally positioned on apron 10` so that edge 17 thereof is ya small fraction of an inch, say 1/16 to Ms inch, away from crimper cutting line 15 of binder 12. By so positioning strip 13 relative to crimper cutting line 15 of binder 12, there is no possibility of disturbing the spiralled strip 13 in the cigar bunch while the ends are being trimmed in the crimper. To ensure that leading end 18 of strip 13 will follow binder 12 while it is being rolled up by apron 10, it is yadvisable to place a dab of paste or adhesive 19 between binder 12 and end 18 of strip 13. Similarly, it is advisable to apply a line of paste Z0 along the trailing end 21 of strip 13 4so that end 21 is sealed to the completed bunch and unravelling of strip 13 before the wrapper is wound around the bunch is prevented.

FIGURES 2 and 3 schematically show a cigar made as just described with reference to FIGURE 1. Filler tobacco 30 is enclosed in helically rolled binder 12 to form a bunch with a narrow strip 13 of a reinforcing sheet spirally wound in the head end only of the bunch and exteriorly encircling binder 12 to provide a protective cover therefor. The bunch including strip 13 is entirely enclosed by wrapper 31 which is separately and helically rolled on the bunch.

Various sizes and shapes of binder and insert strips are possible. The ends of the spiralled insert strip should be overlapped at least 0.5 inch but there is little or no justification for using such a length of strip that when spiralled in the bunch there will be two or more full layers of the reinforcing sheet in the cigar head.

What is claimed is:

In a cigar comprising a mass of ller tobacco enclosed in a helically rolled binder to form a bunch which in turn is enclosed in a separately and helically rolled Wrapper, said binder being a segment of a tobacco sheet made with a water-soluble adhesive, the improvement of a reinforced head in said cigar comprising a substantially rectangular narrow strip of a leXible reinforcing sheet having the greater part of one face thereof in Contact with the outer face of said binder and the smaller part of the other face thereof in contact with the inner face of said binder, said strip being spirally wound in the head end only of said bunch so that the ends of said strip overlap and the complete spiral with less than two full layers of said strip is an integral part of said head end of said bunch on which said wrapper is separately and helically rolled, said strip exteriorly encircling said binder to provide a protective cover for said binder but being entirely enclosed by said Wrapper, and dabs of adhesive only on said ends of said strip holding one of said ends attached to said binder and sealing the other of said ends to said `bunch to prevent unravelling of said strip.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 325,062 Doetsch Aug. 25, 1885 596,657 Feder Jan. 4, 1898 634,104 Fanta Oct. 3, 1899 663,073 Coughtry Dec. 4, 1900 865,012 Butler Sept. 3, 1907 1,969,834 Berrirnan Aug. 14, 1934 1,995,068 Lim Mar. 19, 1935 2,613,673 Sartoretto et al Oct. 14, 1952 2,914,071 Straus Nov. 24, 1959 

